Introduction
Last week we began a series of articles reviewing the offseason moves of each National League West team, starting with the worst team in the NL West (and possibly all of MLB), the Colorado Rockies. (Here’s a link to that article). Continuing our NL West offseason reviews, we’re going from worst to first with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are not only the best in the NL West, but are the back-to-back World Series Champions and are arguably the best run organization in all of MLB.
2025 Season Overview/Recap
The Dodgers won 93
games and took the NL West division title. This in spite of a lot going wrong throughout the season, like Mookie Betts having the worst season of his career, big offseason acquisition SP Roki Sasaki not being anywhere close to the starting pitcher he was in Japan, and injuries to many key players. They’d go on to win their second consecutive World Series Championship for the first time in franchise history, and the first since the Yankees won back-to-back-to-back titles from 1998 to 2000
Notable acquisitions:
- OF Kyle Tucker (4 yr, $240Ml)
- RP Edwin Díaz (3 yr, $69M)
- MI Miguel Rojas (re-signed; 1 yr, $5.5M)
- UTIL Kiké Hernández (re-signed; 1 yr, $4.5M)
- RP Evan Phillips (re-signed; 1 yr, $6.5M)
Notable subtractions:
- RP Kirby Yates (Angels)
- RP Anthony Banda (traded to Twins for International bonus pool money)
- SP Clayton Kershaw (retired)
Offseason Summary and Review
So how do you improve upon a roster that was just the first to win back to back World Series in over twenty years, while you already have the highest payroll in baseball, if at all? Well as far as the latter goes, you just ignore the consequences of the luxury tax completely, and pay it if you’re the Dodgers. The Dodgers roster did have a few areas that could be improved. And, coincidentally, adding the top free agent hitter in Kyle Tucker, along with top free agent reliever Edwin Diaz just so happened to perfectly address the two biggest weaknesses on the roster.
While I do not like the optics of the team with the highest payroll in baseball raising their payroll even further by giving Tucker a 4 year, $240m contract and setting a record for AAV (average annual value), along with another $85m spread out between the other four FA signings, that’s more taking an issue with the business/financial side of the game. This is not what I’m evaluating here. I will criticize the fact that the Tucker signing cost them two draft picks, which is never a good thing long term for a sports franchise.
Honestly, there really isn’t much you can knock the Dodgers for this past offseason as far as the baseball operations side goes. They could have easily and justifiably stood pat this winter, but improving a team is what every fan wants their team to do during the offseason. I would knock the Kiki Hernandez signing based on his career during the regular season .(236/.305/.403, a 91 wRC+) , but he has hit extremely well (272/.339/.486 and a 122 wRC+) in the postseason, and apparently clubhouse vibes really are an actual thing, U guess. I do not like the Rojas signing either because he also looks like he’s about to hit the age cliff, but it’s nitpicking over a contract that’s essentially a World Series bonus.
Over on Fangraphs.com, not only does ZIPs projection system project the Dodgers to be the best team in baseball, but they also have the highest playoff odds. Their lineup against RHP also looks particularly strong:
- Freddy Freeman 1B
- Shohei Ohtani DH
- Mookie Betts SS
- Kyle Tucker RF
- Teoscar Hernandez LF
- Will Smith C
- Max Muncy 3B
- Andy Pages CF
- Hyeseong Kim 2B
That looks like a fairly strong lineup to me, even if it’s starting to get a little long in the tooth. The starting rotation will probably continue to be oft injured, with Blake Snell and Gavin Stone on the injured list as we speak. But the Dodgers have the depth to weather it, while still having one of the best starting pitchers in baseball in Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Ohtani will keep being an alien when he’s healthy.
Grade
Overall, I give the Los Angeles Dodgers a B+ for their offseason, with the lower grade stemming from the wider implications of the Tucker signing, along with the ages of the guys they brought back.
